Metal Gear Solid V: If Only a Whisper
by AThousandSuns
Summary: Just for a moment, She considers letting three words slip. Just so he would know...


**Metal Gear Solid V: If Only a Whisper...**

They'd been at it for two days now, with barely any rest in between. Quiet looked on from her perch up on a nearby crane, out of sight, and out of mind. She sat leaning forward, resting her chin upon her folded arms, and watched the solemn parade below. Even she couldn't believe what happened on the quarantine platform... didn't expect it. Not after Code-Talker managed to save the rest of the base from the Kikongo parasite.

She stared at the coffins that stretched across the entire platform below. She stared on as one by one, they were consumed by fire, three at a time. She remembered how much it hurt, to be burned alive. Excruciating, burning, consuming... words really couldn't describe what she felt in that moment. She could feel that familiar feeling building in her chest. The heaviness and quickening of her heart. The desperation and agony of it all. She had wanted _him_ to feel what she felt then. The searing, melting of her skin, the overwhelming smell of her cooking muscle. How her lips burned and cracked. How she breathed fire and smoke with every breath. How when she tried to open her eyes, they felt as if sown together. And yet...

She gazed down at him, in his forlorn, determined state. Big Boss... Venom Snake. He was like a statue watching on as his dogs were turned to ash in a pyre. Kazuhira approached him, and offered some words to the unmoving snake. What he said, she couldn't hear, but it looked to be words of comfort... something to pull him from his place at the head of the blaze. But he remained. And an hour later, still, he remained.

His dogs, the ones who were lucky enough to be away from the quarantine platform, all of them partook in this service. She saw many weeping, and saw many struggle to continue on. The pain was too much, to lose so many friends. To lose so much of their family all at once.

Quiet dropped her forehead into her folded arms, shutting her eyes tight. She had been a prisoner of the Diamond Dogs for several months now. Or rather... she _had_ been a prisoner of the Diamond Dogs. When that changed specifically, she didn't know. Maybe it was when Ocelot convinced Big Boss to let her tag along for a mission. Maybe it was when she jumped into the chlorine tank, to save that kids trinket. Or maybe it was when he'd given her a patch of her own. She couldn't tell when, but... this place was beginning to feel like home. Even the treatment against her from the more ferocious dogs was beginning to soften as time went on.

A lump was forming in her throat, and she felt tears well up in her eyes. Some of those Dogs... she was growing close to. Stone Gecko, one of her nightly guards was the first who treated her with any sort of respect. Crying Buffalo was a female nurse who would share juicy gossip, as well as make friendly banter outside work hours. Lonely Whale would often come by whenever she played music loud enough, and would catch him humming the tunes on his own later on. Sleeping Harrier, Razor Boa, Growling Moth...

They were ashes now. Snuffed out like gaslights. She squeezed her eyes shut again, forcing the waterfall behind them to keep locked up. The sniper shook her head and rose from her seated place on the crane. She couldn't bare to watch anymore. She gazed down at Big Boss as another coffin was set on the pyre, and he stayed, ever vigilant. She spun around, and soon after, she was in what was once her cell.

She took a seat on her cot and looked up to the moon that shone down through the iron grating above. What was the time now? A quick glance at her watch revealed it to be half past 0100 hours. Normally, she would hear Pouncing Mammoth snoring blissfully on her guard shift above, but all Quiet heard now was the crashing of waves against the medical platform. She was gone too...

The snipers hand raised to her mouth as she prevented her sob from being audible, and she buried her face in the pillow of her cot in an effort to shut the day away.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

It was 0400 hours when she heard heavy footfalls descending the stairwell that led to her cell. She recognized the steps. How they were always purposely heel-first, so she wouldn't be surprised by his appearance. She lifted her head from her pillow, and looked to see his silhouette in the light. Her cassette player was off, and in that stillness, she heard his breathing. Tired and shallow.

He looked... exhausted. How he was still upright was beyond her. She felt his eye on hers, and he strode over to her, but with delicate, quiet steps this time. He stood in front of her, separated only by the bars of her cage.

"I..." He started.

Quiet sat up, leaning on her hands as she looked up at him with an inquisitive stare. He never said much of anything. Not unless it was necessary. A curt order here, a small comment there. He often looked lost in his thoughts, as if something didn't quite make sense. The most he ever spoke was when they were going over mission parameters together.

His face was white with ash, a mask that hid the sandstorm of emotions inside. Oh, she knew. She knew all too well what it meant to wear masks. To hide things that should never be brought to attention. To pretend.

He turned his head away, and clenched his fists, as if trying to find the right words. She desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. Her heart beat heavily in her chest. But for what? What was she expecting? What was she hoping for? A confession? A declaration? She nervously fiddled with the linen of her cot and tilted her head at him, unsure of how to feel.

Snake sighed and turned away from her, and she looked down at her hand dejectedly.

His back leaned into her cell and he sank to the floor, his left leg stretched out while his right was curled up so that his arm could sit on his knee at the elbow.

He looked... defeated. Broken and... alone. So alone. So defeated. He was a shell of Big Boss beneath the moonlight.

She didn't like seeing him like this. Didn't like seeing him being so... human. She often forgot that he was only a person beneath the legend that was the title Big Boss. If her past self could hear her thoughts now, she pondered with amusement.

She was once a ruthless killer. A mercenary assassin skilled greatly in sniping and infiltration. She took jobs others wouldn't be able to complete. Killed men, women and even children if the price was right.

He changed her. Little by little and day by day, he was changing who she was. She couldn't even recall the last soldier she murdered, as they often dealt with the enemy non-lethally. Whilst returning from missions, they would visit the conservation platform to feed and see the various animals they procured. They would play football with the children on base when they were not on mission. And he showed her how to appreciate music. God, the music. She hadn't really been into music before coming in contact with Venom Snake. What felt like ages ago, she would often throw herself into her work, caring for little else outside it. The only song she was able to recall was the lullaby she hummed that calmed her nerves right before a fatal shot was made.

Quiet laid her head down on her pillow, staring at the back of his head. If only he knew how much he changed her...

There was a sniffle, so faint that Quiet thought it might have been the waves against the platform. But it happened again, and she saw Snake move his hand over his mouth, holding it firmly there.

The sniper lifted her head up, and felt her own eyes well up again. Her heart was breaking, seeing him like this. So vulnerable. She wanted to take his pain away. For him to go back to being himself; stoic, but vibrant and colourful in his own subtle way.

She did not want to see him burn. Not anymore. Not ever.

She blinked her tears back before reaching for him through the bars of her cage, and draped her arm over his chest, pulling him close in a tight embrace. His body stiffened in response, but he didn't push away.

That was a good sign, right? She could feel the quick pumping of his heart knocking against her knuckles, and it made a tug at the corner of her lips. Her other arm reached past the bars and, shyly, her bare hand hugged his ashy cheek as she nuzzled her face into the back of his head, pressing her cheek into the sandy knots of his hair. Beneath her palm, she felt him... for the first time. She traced her thumb over his cheekbone. Her fingers absently explored the scars that disappeared into his hairline. She could feel a wetness under her palm as she stroked his grizzly cheek, and she held him tighter when she realized they were tears.

His hand moved from his mouth to her hand and the callouses of his finger tips touched her own fingers. He glided them across her skin with such a touch, she would never have guessed he possessed such a gentleness. His hand stopped at her wrist and his fingers around as if to make sure she were really there, to never let her go. He held her as if to ask if this were really real.

It _was _real. Beneath her hand, she felt his eyes tightly shut, and through her skin, she tasted the fresh teardrop that touched her thumb. Salty and filled with ash. She felt her own tears soak into his hair as she breathed him in.

She wanted to say something. She wanted to tell him everything that she wanted to for the last month or so. What he meant to her. What he's done to her. What he _does_ to her. Would her strain of parasite be set off if she said _anything_? Could she get away with at least _one _word? She inhaled to speak, but stopped. What would she say? What did she want to say?

_I'm so sorry... You don't deserve this... I've forgiven you... I want you. I... I..._

She wanted to say so much. To share so much with him. She wanted to tell him all about the things she liked about him. She had dreams of having hours long conversations with him. Dreams of laughing and joking with him. Dreams of kissing and holding him. Dreams where he made her scream his name with passion.

"Quiet..."

His voice was like whisky; bitter and sour, but sweet and warm, all at the same time. It brought her back to reality, and she barely opened her eyes when she felt his grip loosen on her wrist.

She let go of him, and he began to stand. She did the same, with only her cell to keep them apart.

Snake looked down and held one of the iron bars in his hand, "... Thank you." He whispered, and looked up at her sheepishly.

She smiled as warmly as she could, something she hoped would say at least something of how she felt, and placed her hand over his. She wouldn't say anything... Not in English. Not ever. She wouldn't force him to relive what he just went through. Not ever again.

He pulled away and moved to the stairwell, but not before one more passing glance at her until he disappeared up the stairs.

Quiet watched him go. Wishing that there had been more. She listened as his steps were heavy, climbing to the platform ground level.

She dropped onto her cot, holding her hand and staring into her palm. She saw the white of ash, and the smudge of tears. She closed her fist, and held it to her chest. Her eyes shut as she tried to embed his touch into her skin and memory forever. She curled onto her cot, holding her fist closed and close. And with watery eyes, whispered into the night:

"_... Ayor anosh'ni."_

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

**Hey y'all! This story came to me in a dream, and I finally had some time to sit down and write it out. I really do love the dynamic between Venom Snake and Quiet. I love the absence of words, because it makes when they do speak, so much more important. I only wish we had experienced more of them during the course of MGSV, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. **

**That said, if you're here, coming from my Metal Gear/Mass Effect crossover fic: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, have no fear! I'm haven't abandoned it, just have had maaaaajor writers block until recently. I'm on my fourth draft of chapter XII, and it should be up... soonish? I won't make promises on when, but it'll be up within our lifetime! Thank you SOOOOO much for reading, it really means a lot to me that anyone would read through my mental ramblings. — _AThousandSuns_**


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